Location: Lincoln Middle School Class: 6th grade general science Date of Visit: September 23, 2013
Observation/Reflection #1: Starting From the Beginning How a teacher greets students, takes care of logistics, and begins his or her lessons is CRUCIAL! During this observation, focus on how class begins. Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine when your CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson? Is the approach your CT used during this lesson consistent with what you read in "Teach Like a Pirate."
Observation: When I arrived at my class at the beginning of the school day, the students were already in their seats and working feverishly on a task. I was surprised by this, so I waited until the beginning of the second period to see how such a quiet, controlled classroom environment was achieved by my cooperating teacher. Before the second class, the teacher was at the front of the room organizing papers and preparing for the next set of students to arrive. When the second class arrived, the teacher immediately instructed the students to take out their warm-up activity log and work on the day’s task, which they had picked up on a table next to the door on their way in. The students were given five minutes to complete the activity (on this particular day, a math review sheet), and then the teacher reviewed the answers on an overhead projector with participation from the class. This form of engagement gets the students’ brains working immediately upon entrance to class and wastes no time. After this activity was completed, the teacher moved seamlessly into the main activity for the day: a writing portion of a laboratory report. The only aspect that I was unable to observe was the collection and assessment of homework, as it is a policy on Team 2 (the 6th grade team to which the teacher and students belong) to only rarely assign homework on the weekend.
Reflection: My cooperating teacher has had the system of warm-up activities in place since the beginning of the school year. This system creates a concrete routine for students to follow that helps to aid in classroom management and minimize misbehavior. I have always been an advocate for keeping students engaged from the beginning to the end of class, as it is an easy way to hold their attention, keeping them engaged and focused. If students are kept busy and boredom is prevented, there is little if any time for acting out and straying off-topic. In reference to Teach Like a Pirate, the teacher has perfectly demonstrated the concept of building a rapport with students. Dave Burgess (2012) states that “it is my opinion and experience that an engaged student is rarely a behavior problem” (p. 20). This is a sentiment that I have heard echoed in several of my education courses at the university and it is something I have always believed myself. By starting the class immediately and engaging students in activities until the end of the period, there were no behavior issues that I observed. While I am aware that this will not always be the case every day and in every class, it is important to note that these types of classroom disturbances appear to be the exception rather than the rule. This is the mark of an excellent and experienced teacher, and I hope to be able to build a rapport with my own students when I begin teaching as my cooperating teacher has done.
Class: 6th grade general science
Date of Visit: September 23, 2013
Observation/Reflection #1: Starting From the Beginning
How a teacher greets students, takes care of logistics, and begins his or her lessons is CRUCIAL! During this observation, focus on how class begins. Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine when your CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson? Is the approach your CT used during this lesson consistent with what you read in "Teach Like a Pirate."
Observation:
When I arrived at my class at the beginning of the school day, the students were already in their seats and working feverishly on a task. I was surprised by this, so I waited until the beginning of the second period to see how such a quiet, controlled classroom environment was achieved by my cooperating teacher. Before the second class, the teacher was at the front of the room organizing papers and preparing for the next set of students to arrive. When the second class arrived, the teacher immediately instructed the students to take out their warm-up activity log and work on the day’s task, which they had picked up on a table next to the door on their way in. The students were given five minutes to complete the activity (on this particular day, a math review sheet), and then the teacher reviewed the answers on an overhead projector with participation from the class. This form of engagement gets the students’ brains working immediately upon entrance to class and wastes no time. After this activity was completed, the teacher moved seamlessly into the main activity for the day: a writing portion of a laboratory report. The only aspect that I was unable to observe was the collection and assessment of homework, as it is a policy on Team 2 (the 6th grade team to which the teacher and students belong) to only rarely assign homework on the weekend.
Reflection:
My cooperating teacher has had the system of warm-up activities in place since the beginning of the school year. This system creates a concrete routine for students to follow that helps to aid in classroom management and minimize misbehavior. I have always been an advocate for keeping students engaged from the beginning to the end of class, as it is an easy way to hold their attention, keeping them engaged and focused. If students are kept busy and boredom is prevented, there is little if any time for acting out and straying off-topic. In reference to Teach Like a Pirate, the teacher has perfectly demonstrated the concept of building a rapport with students. Dave Burgess (2012) states that “it is my opinion and experience that an engaged student is rarely a behavior problem” (p. 20). This is a sentiment that I have heard echoed in several of my education courses at the university and it is something I have always believed myself. By starting the class immediately and engaging students in activities until the end of the period, there were no behavior issues that I observed. While I am aware that this will not always be the case every day and in every class, it is important to note that these types of classroom disturbances appear to be the exception rather than the rule. This is the mark of an excellent and experienced teacher, and I hope to be able to build a rapport with my own students when I begin teaching as my cooperating teacher has done.